Hampton Man Sentenced to 50 Years for Production and Receipt of Child Pornography

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 15, 2011

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Jeffrey Boyd Ramsey, 50, of Hampton, Va., was sentenced today to fifty years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for production of child pornography and receipt of child pornography.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Ramsey pled guilty on Aug. 11, 2011.

“Jeffrey Ramsey’s systematic abuse of young girls went unpunished for more than 20 years,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “It was only through the courage of the brave little girls who came forward after the pool party at his home that Ramsey’s abuse was finally put to an end.”

According to court records, Ramsey was identified by Hampton Police when multiple prepubescent minors accused Ramsey of molesting them during a pool party at his residence. Investigators later found Ramsey to be in possession of hundreds of images of child pornography, including images of the violent rape and molestation of extremely young children. Among the images were those Ramsey produced himself with a female girl from when she was nine through age 13. Court records state that Ramsey has been abusing minor children since at least 1987.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Peninsula Innocent Images Task Force and the Hampton Police Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth Yusi and Lisa McKeel are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.